Improvement in reworking bessemer steel



CHARLEBJMQTIER'W NNES, OF YORK, PENNstYLvANIa IMPRQVEMENT IYN RE'WORKINGBESSEMER STEEL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 102,960, dated May 10,1870.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, CHARLES MOTIER Nns,

of York, in the county of York, and State of Pennsylvania, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Reworking Scrap, Old Itails,Imperfect Ingots, &c., of Bessemer Steel, andof converting the'same intomalleable iron, cast-steel, or puddled steel, of which the following isa specification In the manufacture of Bessemer steel it is usual todecarbonize the iron by means of blast, and then decarbonizeit, by'tlieaddition of spiegeleisen, a highly carbonized pigiron, which is thrownin sufficient quantities to produce steel.

The Bessemer steelthus made, on account of the quantity of carbon itcontains, cannot p be reworked. I p

The ordinary way of. reworking old iron rails is by piling andrerolling. This is not I practicable with the Bessemer-steel rails, as ithe pile will not weld on account of the carbon contained in the metal;and, again, if it be desired to puddle the Bessemer steel in theordinary way, the metal cannot be balled up, and even if it could beiitwould fly under the hammer, this being due to the carbon which itcontains.

It is owing to this fact that/old and imperfect steel rails, ingots,scrap, &c., in large quantity, are allowed togo to waste, no'plan havingyet been devised by which to rework them advantageously and profitably.

. The object of my invention is to utilize this ,waste material, and torework it into malleable iron, cast-steel, or puddled steel, simply,

cheaply, and expeditiously. To this end I employ the following process,the first essential condition of which is to deprive the Bessemer metalof the I carbon with which it is charged.

I first melt the. old rails, ingots, or other articles of. Bessemersteel to be reworked in an ordinary cupola, employing a hot or coldblast, as desired. When the metal is melted,

. I run it from the cupola into a refining-furnace, which I prefer tomake of cast-iron plates lined with fire-brick. Two or more tuyeres areprovided on either side of this furnace, and, after the metal is runtherein, air

. p or oygen is blown throughthejtuyeres intothe melted mass until thecarbon is thoroughly eliminated from the metal.

If, however, it is desired to producecaststeel, I conduct the melted anddecarbonized metal from the refining-furnace through a run-out, usuallyemployed with such furnaces, into an air-tight chest or receptacle,such, for instance, as described in my patent dated April 19, 1870,where the metal is recarbonized by blowing carbonized gases into thechest, or by throwing sufficient pig-iron into the metal, followingsubstantially the process described in said patent.

In this manner I obtain steel which can be run-from the chestinto moldsof any shape and size desired, and can be thence taken and put under thehammer and made into rails of quite as good quality as the Bessemerrails when first made.

In order to repuddle the steel, I take the melted metal from therefining-furnace, after it has been'deprived of its carbon by theprocess above specified, and run it into the puddling-furnace, where itis puddled in the ordinary way, a sufficient quantity of pig-iron andsilica being employed to keep a bath over the iron, thus keeping carbone pig to reconvert it into steel.

I prefer, in order to hasten the process, and to produce finer metal, toinsulate both the cupola 0r melting-furnace and the refiningfni-nace,and to insert'into the melted metal steel bars, which are connected witha galvanic battery, as described in my patent nough in the above named,thus causing continued currents of electricity to traverse the metalwhile it is melting and refining.

Electricity may also be employed with the recarbonizing process, ifdesired, although the use of electricity is not indispensable in any ofthe stages of the process.

Having now described my invention, and the manner in which the same isor may be carried into eifect, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

l. The method of producing malleable iron from old rails, imperfectingots, scrap, &c., of Bessemer steel, substantially in the mannerherein specified.

2. The manufacture of cast-steel from old rails, imperfect ingots, &c.,of Bessemer steel,

by first melting and (leearbonizing the metal name to this specificationbefore two subscribto he reworked, and then recarbouizing the ingwitnesses. same, substantially in the manner described.

3. The manufacture of paddled steel from CHAS MOTIER imperfect ingots,scrap, 850., of Bessemer steel, Witnesses: substantially in the mannerdescribed. JOHN A. WILSON,

In testimony whereof I have signed my IVAN GLOSSBRENNER.

